Oxygen Media looking for ‘lively and loud’

The competition to target female audiences is heating up, with more and more networks looking to skew female friendly. Here, Oxygen Media's SVP original programming and development, Amy Introcaso-Davis, tells realscreen what sort of programming helps Oxygen to stand out from the pack.

The competition to target female audiences is heating up, with more and more networks looking to skew female friendly. Here, Oxygen Media’s SVP original programming and development, Amy Introcaso-Davis, tells realscreen what sort of programming and POV helps the NBC Universal-owned Oxygen to stand out from the pack.

What is the strategy behind Oxygen’s non-fiction programming?Our tagline is ‘Live Out Loud’ and we are really targeting a young female audience. Our characters are loud, boisterous, noisy and have a very specific point of view. They’re fun.

How do you differentiate your programming from competitors who are also in the female programming space?I think we have a very specific point of view. Our characters are unapologetic; we see them as they are, particularly in a show with Bad Girls Club, which was number one in its time slot in adults and women 18 to 34 last week, for all of cable and network [for the season 4 reunion episode]. I think it’s because we are unapologetic about our characters. They are who they are, the good with the bad.

What are some of the things that you’re working on right now?We’re about to launch Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood and I think it’s going to be a great season. I think what’s interesting about Tori [Spelling] is that she’s very real and that’s what our audience is constantly telling us, ‘We want real people.’ You really see the regular struggles of [being] Hollywood royalty, but she’s also a mom and a wife and has to deal with all of those struggles, just like everybody else.

What are you looking for right now in terms of programming?We love women who are strong, impassioned, fun, lively, loud and who really embrace who they are. We’re looking in any sort of format, docuseries, competition shows [for those sorts of characters]. We’re not doing any scripted programming right now but we’re certainly open to different types of formats.

What challenges does the network face right now?We’re facing what everybody faces, which is tons of competition. There’s great programming out there. It’s really fun speaking to a very specific audience. I think where we’ve succeeded is that we’ve really nailed down who our audience is and really started to talk to it in a way that’s very different. We have a show called OxygenLive.com, on the Web, which we run during all of our shows and our audience can chat with people who are on [a particular] show, and [it's] very immediate. People have really loved that.

What advice do you have for interested producers who’d like to pitch to you?I think for me, get to know what our brand is because we’re very specific in terms of what we will do and what we won’t do. Then just follow your passion. But know what we’re doing and know what is right for us. We’re female-skewing, young women.

About The Author

Daniele Alcinii is a news reporter at realscreen, the leading international publisher of non-fiction film and television industry news and content. He joins the rs team with journalism experience following a stint out west with Sun Media in Edmonton's Capital Region, and communications work in Melbourne, Australia and Toronto. You can follow him on Twitter at @danielealcinii.